Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr. had been involved with drugs since childhood. He also ended up in prison for illegal drug possession. In a podcast he spoke about this experience.
The Life of Robert Downey Jr. is marked by extremes. For years, things have been going well for the actor in Hollywood, including roles like Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the highly successful “Avengers” films.
But the 58-year-old has also experienced real low points. He was involved with drugs in his own family from an early age, consuming illegal substances with his father. “When my dad and I did drugs together, it was like showing his love for me in the only way he knew how,” he once said. Ultimately, this path led Robert Downey jr. into jail. In the Hollywood podcast “Armchair Expert” he spoke for the first time about his time behind bars.
Robert Downey Jr. had problems with alcohol and drugs
In 1996 he was caught with cocaine – at that time his acting career was already in full swing. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 1999 for violating his parole conditions. “I went to court and was punished too harshly by an angry judge,” he recalls.
After the conviction, Downey Jr. to a reception center for new prisoners. It was “probably the most dangerous place in the world I’ve ever been to,” he said in the podcast: There he waited with many convicts who were guilty of all sorts of crimes for transport to the detention center. “I could feel the evil in the air, it was like being in a bad area,” he recalled. Downey Jr. described the depressing mood of the place. like, “There was no hope there, only threats.”
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His wife gave him a choice
The actor was later transferred to a facility for drug addicts. For him, stepping into the prison yard for the first time was “like being sent to a faraway planet.” But he was able to get used to the situation quickly. Nevertheless, he perceived the time in prison as “the worst thing that happened to me”.
After a year, Robert Downey jr. pay bail and was released. In 2001 he was convicted again of illegal drug possession – the same year he received a Golden Globe for his role in the television series Ally McBeal. After that he went into rehab and got rid of his drug and alcohol addiction. Also because his current wife Susan gave him a choice: she would leave him if he didn’t give up drugs. “It was the clearest conversation I’ve had in my entire life,” the Hollywood star recalled years later. “The ultimatum worked.”
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Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
